help! best antivirus software?

[Hellow]

Thats why I use it!

But you still have to watch out for scripts.. I always have the auto run scripts turned off

I never run scripts without personally looking the code over for dangerous commands.

[king2005]

I never run scripts without personally looking the code over for dangerous commands.

I can't do that, so I don't install untrusted things

[Catlady711]

I don't install untrusted things

That's the key right there. Most viruses/spyware come from people downloading things, file sharing, or opening suspicious emails. If all people would be so discriminating I don't think people would have nearly the problems with their cpu's as they do.

[Hellow]

That's the key right there. Most viruses/spyware come from people downloading things, file sharing, or opening suspicious emails. If all people would be so discriminating I don't think people would have nearly the problems with their cpu's as they do.

Unfortunately, people mainly around my age download whatever they think is pretty or cool and they end up clogging up their computer with trash and other malicious things. I end up helping kids decrapify their computers since I am one of the only kids that knows how to in my school .

[king2005]

That's the key right there. Most viruses/spyware come from people downloading things, file sharing, or opening suspicious emails. If all people would be so discriminating I don't think people would have nearly the problems with their cpu's as they do.

The funniest thing I've done is install XP fresh & then install spybot.. it always finds stuff & I'm not even connected to the internet.. funny eh?

Also that popular XP file downloader (name slips my mind) IS a virus.. I find it so funny that everyone thinks its sooooooooooo awesome, yet they are full of viruses >_>

[Maya & Inka's mommy]

My hubby says: Do never download a "free" antivirus program. Even if you want to get rid of it, it will NEVER let you !!

We have Kapersky now, and it is very good!

[Lady's Human]

AVG is good, and is free.

Symantec and Norton are bastards to remove from the operating system, there are pages and pages of info on how to do it, but it's a PITA.

AVG has never posed a problem for me for removal.

[Hellow]

Heh, if something wont come off one of my Windowz computers, I personally root out and destroy what is related to it. That actually works.

[king2005]

My hubby says: Do never download a "free" antivirus program. Even if you want to get rid of it, it will NEVER let you !!

We have Kapersky now, and it is very good!

Not true..

AVG & Avast are both free & they let you remove & add them as many times as you want. They don't care.

Best of luck removing Norton.. I tried & tried & tried on someones box & no matter what i did, it was always there to haunt them.. I got annoyed & just formatted their computer & redid everything properly.. love msconfig

[Maya & Inka's mommy]

Not true..

AVG & Avast are both free & they let you remove & add them as many times as you want. They don't care.

Best of luck removing Norton.. I tried & tried & tried on someones box & no matter what i did, it was always there to haunt them.. I got annoyed & just formatted their computer & redid everything properly.. love msconfig

What is "not true!" ?? My hubby once downloaded a free 3-months trial. After 3 months he decided he didn't want to purchase it, so he tried to delete it!
IS IT DELETED? NO............ . It even keeps interfearing with our other program we have now!

[Medusa]

Best of luck removing Norton.. I tried & tried & tried on someones box & no matter what i did, it was always there to haunt them.. I got annoyed & just formatted their computer & redid everything properly.. love msconfig

This has been my experience, too. My computer guy (thank goodness for him) had a devil of a time w/removing Norton and he's an expert. As it turned out, the Norton application itself was corrupt and really messed things up for me. After it occured twice, I said 'no more Norton'. I have Trend Micro right now and it hasn't protected my computer any better than AVG which is free.

[Killearn Kitties]

I have one laptop that is still running McAfee. I am going to cancel it, I think, because the daily search for updates is starting to take an eternity. That may, however be because the laptop is a few years old now, I don't know. It does everything else fast enough though.

I also use AVG on a different machine. I have never had virus problems with either of them.

[Catty1]

I loved AVG. However, I updated to version 8 which included a lot of extras and it took almost 6 hours to scan my computer!

I switched to Avast, and use Spybot S&D. (If you Google Spybot S&D, there is a result that looks a lot like it....make sure it is the real one!)

Spybot removes spyware, which comes in through the computer's "back door", and tracks your surfing habits, as well as taking up extra disk space. Also...viruses CAN come in via spyware, though I've not heard of any cases in particular.

Norton was on a friend's computer that I was working on...what a PIG to uninstall!!! It's like removing a squid, and then searching for the tentacles that broke off in the process. It's a resource hog. One of my geek friends says Norton is a virus itself in the way it acts.

Avast and Spybot - that's my choice. Have had no virus damage at all in over 5 years.

[Husky_mom]

I have avast in my home comp... but as it let in some spyware I used the spybot S&D... so I wondered if it would be better to go with AVG and S&D... for the work one.. but is AVG made for win 2000?.. or should I go with avast..

http://news.helpero.com/article/The-...rus-is_11.html

Avast Home Edition
With a skin-based interface Avast! is the friendliest antivirus software from our test. This can be a minus because using sophisticated skins can affect the memory usage. It has an interesting feature "VRDB". The aim of VRDB is to help when, despite all the security measures, a virus gets inside the computer and the files are infected. With the help of VRDB, it is possible to repair infected files (return them exactly to their original state). It has detected only 1 of the 2 major threats on the test computer.
You can download Avast home Edition from here.

AVG Antivirus
Offering a rock-solid protection AVG is THE BEST FREE ANTIVIRUS from this test. It has a very good definition update system,uses little system resources and a full time protection utility with "on-access" file scanner and e-mail scanner. The program doesn't tax your system when scanning or when running in the background and always proved effective in our tests. This app's interface can't be described as beautiful, yet it is mostly simple to navigate. During the full system scan it has detected both of our major threats on the test computer.
You can download AVG Free Antivirus from here.

[Hellow]

ClamWin is a free and open source anti-virus solution, that I obviously put my full weight behind. It is pretty good, I have used it before. Oh, if you ever hear the term "Back Door" they mean either:
A) A bug in the code in Windows (which it has a lot of)
B) A open port (internet/virtual port, not the actual ports on the physical computer) or otherwise a security vulnerability which people can exploit. Having a open port is like leaving every door in the house open wide in a large city with a high crime rate, you really don't want that.